The Wonders of Silk Fibroin Biomaterials in the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer has continued to be a cause of increasing morbidity and mortality in women, being the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among them. Its management using chemotherapy is continually plagued with problems of systemic toxicity, lack of compliance by patients, and inadequate targeting of cancer cells. The future of breast cancer chemotherapy will likely involve the use of biocompatible high cell-targeting capacity drug-delivery vehicles like silk fibroin to ameliorate these problems. The utilization of silk fibroin nanoparticles to deliver cytotoxic drugs provides specificity, optimal entrapment, improved therapeutic index, and maximal breast cancer cell toxicity with minimal or no collateral damage to surrounding normal cells. The silk fibroin obtained from the cocoon of the Bombyx morii worm is processed and degummed to remove the sericin component; it is then made into nanoparticles utilizing the desolvation, ionic gelation, or electrospray method. It is then loaded with an appropriate chemotherapeutic drug (e.g., carboplatin), and characterization is performed using physico-chemical methods such as fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, or transmission electron microscopy. The nanoparticles are then tested for cytoxicity, and the induction of apoptosis on breast cancer cell lines MC-7 (Her2-) and MDA-MB-453 (Her2+). Toxicity and apoptosis are assessed using the MTT assay and ELISA methods, respectively. Silk fibroin has been demonstrated in various studies to be a very useful tool in specific active or passive drug delivery to target cancer cells, thus ensuring a maximum destruction and minimum damage to normal surrounding cells, which decreases systemic toxicity and enhances drug efficacy.

Biomedical applications of silkworm ( Bombyx Mori ) proteins in regenerative medicine (a narrative review)

“…Co-cultures of human osteoblast-like cells and human breast adenocarcinoma cells, which mimicked the 3D microenvironment of bone-breast cancer metastasis, were also successfully sustained on 3D SF scaffolds (Fine et al, 2015;Maghdouri-White et al, 2016). In addition, ineffective targeting modalities and poor optimization of anti-cancer agent localization within the cancer cell plague cancer chemotherapy, as do issues with cytotoxicity to rapidly proliferating cells, adequate uptake, and diffusion of the chemotherapeutic agent within tumor cells (Tulay et al, 2018). Due to these complications, researchers have focused their attention to the use of biomaterials in drug delivery systems.…”

“…As a result, SF-based biomaterials have been used for the delivery of a variety of drugs, including anti-cancer drugs. The multi-functionality of SF nanomaterials could also be considered, making it a platform for therapeutic delivery, monitoring, and diagnostics in a concept known as theorization (Fine et al, 2015;Tulay et al, 2018).…”

The Silk, Versatile Material for Biological, Optical, and Electronic Fields: Review

“…Recently, they are applied to target cancer cells. The technique used allows to target the diseased cells and save the healthy ones, thus reducing the toxic effects and improving the effectiveness of the therapy [78]. Some researchers applied a therapy based on lyophilization of SF with emodin-loaded liposomes and methanol to treat breast cancer [79].…”

Systemic and Local Silk-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapy

“…Among natural polymers, silks are considered to be excellent candidates for various biomedical applications, as they are biocompatible, biodegradable, nontoxic, and induce only a mild immune response [ 7 , 8 ]. The exceptional mechanical properties of silk, in addition to its compatibility with common sterilization techniques and simple preparation methods, make it a perfect biopolymer for a wide range of uses, including cancer therapy.…”